Get out and VOTE

Hurricane Sandy to hit east coast

 

A superstorm threatening 50 million people in the most heavily populated corridor in the nation gained strength Monday, forecasters said.

The National Hurricane Center said early Monday that Hurricane Sandy increased its top sustained winds from 75 mph to 85 mph, with higher gusts.

The Category 1 hurricane is moving north at 15 mph after moving northeast Sunday night. Hurricane-force winds extend up to 175 miles from the storm's center. Gale force winds were reported over coastal North Carolina, southeastern Virginia, the Delmarva Peninsula and coastal New Jersey.

Sandy is about 385 miles south-southeast of New York City and the center of the storm is expected to be near the mid-Atlantic coast on Monday night. It was expected to hook inland during the day, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic.
CBS News hurricane consultant David Bernard reports that wind gusts of 38 mph and 41 mph have already been reported in New York City and Boston, respectively.

Sandy is likely going to strengthen even more as it approaches the East Coast, Bernard reports, with hurricane-force winds reaching land by Monday afternoon. Flooding will be a huge threat, with many areas potentially seeing rainfall amounts between 5 and 8 inches over a 48-hour period.

From Washington to Boston, big cities and small towns were buttoned up against the onslaught of Sandy, with forecasters warning that the New York area could get the worst of it — an 11-foot wall of water.




credits: Picture: Associated Press
CBS News...

Hurricane Sandy Heads Toward Cuba, May Strike U.S. Next Week

Hurricane Sandy, which closed businesses and airports in Jamaica as it moved north in the Caribbean, may strike the U.S. East Coast next week with the potential to cause millions of dollars in damage.
Sandy’s maximum sustained winds reached 105 miles (165 kilometers) per hour as it moved inland over southeastern Cuba, according to a U.S. National Hurricane Center advisory at 5 a.m. Eastern time. It was about 40 miles east of Holguin, Cuba, and moving north at 18 mph.
“The table is set for some pretty major weather,” Henry Margusity, an expert senior meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania, said yesterday. “Is it going to be an epic storm or is going to be just your typical nor’easter? We will have the answers next week.”
Sandy, a Category 2 system on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, is forecast to remain a hurricane as it moved through the Bahamas, according to the hurricane center. The storm may then move parallel to the U.S. East Coast and either be pushed into the Atlantic Ocean or pulled into the coastline.
A computer model based in Europe took the storm up Delaware Bay, while another by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had Sandy curve into Portland, Maine, Margusity said. Both events would take place early next week.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said residents should monitor the storm’s progress.

Weather Patterns

One of the major weather patterns determining where Sandy will end up is the North Atlantic Oscillation, which is currently blocking weather systems moving off the U.S. The system may turn Sandy into the U.S. coast, Margusity said.
A storm on that potential track may do millions in damage from downed trees, power outages and flooding, he said.
The storm is expected to dump up to 12 inches of rain on Haiti, the Dominican Republic and eastern Cuba, the Center said. As much as 3 inches of rain are possible over Florida.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net; Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net